#daniel o'malley

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

Any books you've read recently and what did you think of them?

I'm currently in the middle of rerading Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley and the Murderbot series by Martha Wells, and since they're both rereads, I'm enjoying myself immensely. Murderbot is big on Tumblr for good reason, but Stiletto is the second book in the Checquay Files series.

Basically what you need to know about book one, The Rook, is that the book opens with the main character coming to in the middle of a public park at night in the rain, surrounded by dead bodies wearing latex gloves, and she has no memories at all of herself, her life, her own name, or how she came to be there. She finds a note in her pocket from herself. Turns out she's a high-ranking member of basically the paranormal version of MI5 and someone in her own organization is trying to kill her, so she has to go undercover as herself to figure out who the traitor is. It's great.

Also the author is a nice Australian man whose day job had him operating as an expert during the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappearance, which is an interesting coincidence.

[a-man-for-hire-and-his-archives]

Group photos with the authors at Supanova Melbourne!

From left to right: T. Kingfisher, Daniel O'Malley, Richard Swan, Maria Lewis, Lynette Noni and Luke Arnold

Photo by Brittany Mackay

Credits to Supanova Melbourne Facebook

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote YES if you have finished the entire book.

vote NO if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[loudlyhappycupcake]

Danger mouse @evander2511 @sakulovejulius12 @jazzyrazzy157 @jademz1711 @shironezuninja @d-blue02 @waltdiegi-rodriguez-theartist @kuskicanlove @untitled14360 @neokun25 @nevaehjwilliamsvaeh @jimenacake16 @jikothemartian-z @bitter-yet-civilized @homuncvlus @soniathedangerhedgefox2015

[vintagewarhol]

[readingaccountability]

march roundup!

since my last post i have finished:

blitz - daniel o'malley

goliath - tochi onyebuchi

just like home - sarah gailey

the three-body problem - cixin liu

the change - kirsten miller

my government means to kill me - rasheed newson

when we were magic - sarah gailey

the all-consuming world - kassandra khaw

upgrade - blake crouch

and i finished upgrade last night so nothing is in progress at the moment! <3

[frammento]

“I can summon and command wasps,” said Pawn Harriet Collinge, whom Odette suspected of being a little bit tipsy. “Roger disrupts mathematics, and Louis can draw wasps to him.” “Very cool,” said Odette. “Wait, so you can both do things with wasps? Are you two related?” “Oh, no,” said Louis. “Sorry, she does the thing with insects. I can attract white Anglo-Saxon Protestants.”

Daniel O’Malley, Stiletto

[tacanderson]

Revisiting Favorite Book Series

I mention in my last post that I normally don't re-read books. There are just too many books I want to read (seriously, my TBR pile is easily over 100 books). But this year I revisited several favorites. Of the 60 books I will have read this year, 16 of them were books I've already read. This post contains 12 of those I reread and two new books to this year.

The Rivers of London

First up, let's talk about The Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. This has been one of our favorite series and my wife and I eagerly await each new release. This year, book nine in the series, Amongst our Weapons was released. Yes there are nine books in the series, plus three novellas, a slew of short stories, a series of comic books, and now a role playing game from the same publisher that brought us The Call of Cthulhu. It's probably the most popular series most people in the States don't seem to know about. Nick Frost and Simon Pegg opted the series for TV, but that was in 2019 and then the pandemic hit, and that hasn't gone anywhere. But I know Nick Frost his a huge fan of the series.

The Checquy Files

Like The Rivers of London, The Checquy Files (written by Daniel O'Malley) falls squarely in that urban fantasy genre and also takes place in London. Whereas The Rivers of London was, 'If Harry Potter grew up and joined the fuzz,' I'd describe The Checquy Files more like 'If The X-Men joined MI5.'

The Rook was turned into a short-lived series on Starz, that was originally being adapted by Stephenie Meyer (yes, the Twilight author), but she left as soon as filming started over creative differences. The series drifted pretty far from the source material, from what I understand, and was cancelled after one season.

I also find it interesting that Daniel O'Malley was born in Australia, went to college in the States (both for his undergrad and his Masters), and then moved back to Australia, but still set his book in London. I'm not sure if he ever lived in London, but having lived in London myself, I can safely say that it really lends itself to urban fantasy.

Murderbot!

I love all three of these series, but The Murderbot Diaries has a special place in my heart. The main character is a non-gendered, humanoid construct, cyborg - person. Basically a brain, skin, muscle, and something that's not blood, combined with a supercomputer and the insides of the Terminator. But it's the most relatable human character, that's not technically a human, you'll ever read. Imagine someone that hates their job, is annoyed at having to deal with people and just wants to watch TV all day. That's Murderbot.

Martha Wells is primarily a fantasy author, but I think this sci-fi series is her most highly rated. A good example of why authors should be willing to experiment.

[tidepoolalgae]

"I'm in a daze because I could crush you." 😍

[a-man-for-hire-and-his-archives]

More from Luke Arnold with other authors at Supanova Gold Coast!

[caribeandthebooks]

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Science Fiction, Adult Fiction, Paranormal/Supernatural

Setting: England

Description: "The body you are wearing used to be mine." So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves...Read more on Goodreads/Storygraph

Content Warning information can be found via the above Storygraph link.

[loudlyhappycupcake]

DSCDangerMouse

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[sebastianravkin]

Book recommendation for 2024

Back during the shutdown, I found myself desperate for a new book or two or ten but unable to go to my favorite bookstore and spend a day exploring. At wit's end, I searched online for "fiction novel fantasy horror funny mystery" all at once. I wasn't actually expecting a single book to fit all those needs, but The Rook by Daniel O’Malley did exactly that. I enjoyed it so much, I ended up gifting it to three different people that year.

Bonus if you enjoy it: it is the first in a triology-of-sorts.

[readingaccountability]

am back and didnt really stop reading, just stopped posting!

general updates:

i surpassed my 2022 reading goal of 75 books!!! my total ended up being 81

sticking to the same 75 goal for this year since it felt really comfy - good balance between keeping me focused and not making me read uncomfortably fast

reviews are no longer going to be under a readmore because to be honest i started doing that back when i had a lot more to say, lol

now, a current snapshot from last update post to now

read during the end of 2022:

dracula - bram stoker

interview with the vampire - anne rice

the monster of elendhaven - jennifer giesbrecht

the death of jane lawrence - caitlin starling

my sister, the serial killer - oyinkan braithwaite

blood oath - christopher farnsworth

who is vera kelly? - rosalie knect

peaces - helen oyeyemi

the charmed wife - olga grushin

sleep donation - karen russell

providence - matt barry

deformations - sasha dugdale

the great mistake - jonathan lee

hummingbird salamander - jeff vandermeer

lexicon - max barry

lavender house - lev ac rosen

mr penumbras 24 hour bookstore - robin sloan

the monsters we defy - leslye penelope

sourdough - robin sloan

the suitcase clone - robin sloan

a restless truth - freya marske

the starless sea - erin morgenstern

black powder war - naomi novik

read since the beginning of 2023:

the atlas six - olivie blake

the atlas paradox - olivie blake

the big ship at the end of the universe - alex white

hell bent - leigh bardugo

how high we go in the dark - sequoia nagamatsu

am reading:

blitz - daniel o'malley

goliath - tochi onyebuchi

[frammento]

“Do we know for sure he’s dead?” asked the marine biologist. They both looked at Odette. “I’m fairly certain,” she said. “He’s cold, has no discernible pulse, and smells of rotting meat.” “I dated someone like that once,” remarked Codman. “A graduate student, a medieval historian.”

Daniel O’Malley, Stiletto

[flammelikestoread]

Such a girlfailure... I love her